1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for living body inspection and a non-invasive blood analyzer using the same, and particularly to an apparatus for transcutaneously detecting optical information from a tissue including a blood vessel of a portion of a living body and an apparatus for analyzing the detected optical information to acquire information on blood, for example, hemoglobin concentration or hematocrit.
2. Description of the Related Art
For such an apparatus for living body inspection, an apparatus is known in which a human finger is inserted into a groove of a finger accepting device, the finger is deformed by pressing it with a roller until the outline of the finger is fitted to a cross-sectional shape of the groove, and the deformed finger is irradiated with light to detect a transmitted light therefrom (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. HEI 06-503728).
However, in such a conventional apparatus, the finger is extended linearly and pressed strongly in the groove, so that the blood vessel or tissue is deformed to cause a congestive state or ischemic state. This raises a problem that it is not possible to obtain optical information from a blood vessel or tissue in a normal state.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described situation and it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for living body inspection and a non-invasive blood analyzer using the same in which it is possible to acquire normal optical information by holding a portion of the living body stably without applying an excessive correcting force or pressing force.
The present invention provides an apparatus for living body inspection comprising: a base for mounting a portion of a living body to be inspected; sidewall members capable of holding the mounted portion of the living body therebetween from both sides; a light source section for supplying a light to the portion of the living body held on the base and between the sidewall members; and a light receiving section for detecting optical information from the portion of the living body supplied with the light.
In this apparatus for living body inspection, the base has a morphology that conforms, for example, to a palm of a hand of a human being and its plural fingers and its thumb, and the sidewall members position one of the plural fingers and the thumb appropriately relative to the light source section and the light receiving section.
Further, the present invention provides an apparatus for living body inspection wherein the light receiving section comprises an image capturing element. Further, the present invention provides a non-invasive apparatus for living body inspection comprising: an analyzing section for calculating information on blood flowing through a blood vessel by analyzing an image of a tissue including the blood vessel obtained by an image capturing element of an apparatus for living body inspection; and an outputting section for outputting the calculated information.